Wine Words & Video Tape

Wine, Words and Videotape

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Château Cantemerle

Acquired in 1981 by a mutual insurance company [SMABTP] Château Cantemerle has made good value Bordeaux for thirty years. Stylistically it resembles fine Margaux, the appellation to which the property borders. The 1983 tasted in the late 1980s was fantastic and the 1987 from memory was soft and reasonable from that rain affected year. The 2009 and 2010 are excellent and the 2012 is very good for the vintage. The 2005 Château Cantemerle promises to be a good wine but it’s currently going through a disjointed, ugly duckling phase. Philippe Dambrine is the estate’s director. Second wine Les Allées de Cantemerle, which is usually pretty good. Prices are always consistent here for the grand vin (at around the £220-260 [$330-390] a case of twelve) and the great vintages like 2005, 2009 & 2010 are wines to buy in spades if you want to enjoy excellent Bordeaux at a reasonable price.

2011 Deep and healthy looking; blackcurrant aromas; some cassis; grippy and chunky on the palate with a chewy finish. Acid and tannin dominates. Needs time but will probably still be austere and clipped. Don’t hurry to buy this – especially over their lovely ’09 and ’10 [at not much greater cost]. Drink 2016 – 2026. 86 UGC Oct ’13 [Earlier note] Deep and attractive looking; earthy tones, some coffee, little vegetal note, mealy, earthy quality with beetroot tones; palate oak a little obvious and rather astringent palate. Dry, austere and quite disjointed at the moment. May come together but a disappointing showing. Long way off the potential of the excellent wines here in ‘09/’10. Tasted UGC. 85-86? 2018-2025

2010 Deep; wonderfully open sexy aromatics; blackcurrants, spices, plums and that pain grillé note; hint of undergrowth too; lovely and open; fantastic partner to Cantemerle’s ravishing 2009. Similar tones on the palate; perfumed and very Bordeaux; with more astringency and tension than ’09. Structure and matter here; tightness too which is attractive. Drink 2016-2030. 93+ MW Institute Nov ’14 [Earlier note] Deep and saturated look; textured nose with layers; blackcurrants, some coffee tones; attractive; not ’09 but this is very good; grippy palate but with lots of blackcurrant fruit, extract and acid – a mouthful. Classic with freshness, chew and good length. 91+/100 UGC Oct ’12 [Earlier] Dense and arterial; ripe; some floral notes, roses, violet [Margaux like], cassis and blackcurrants – nice overall; some cream and depth to the palate; rich and concentrated, good blackcurrant flavours, concentrated and tannic with good acid too. Grippy and tannic finish. Good in time 88-90/100 Tasted 5 April 2011 at UGC. [Second tasting] Thick and deep, ripe and smoky nose; thick and rich; attractive nose; lots of cassis and blackcurrant; thick and ripe, rich; lovely palate, lots of fruit here, lashings in fact. This should be good Very impressive. 89-91/100 Tasted 7April 2011 at UGC Drink 2018-2030+

2009 Dense and dark; colour tight to the rim; ripe blackcurrants; seductive; plums; pretty jam packed aromatically; palate full with earthy, blackcurrants, sap with lots of extract; very nicely handled and is progressing really well. Lots of life and promise if slight less extravagant than last showing. Remains an excellent effort. Drink 2018-2030. 92+ MW Institute Nov ’13 [Earlier note] Saturated, deep colour; wow! Lovely plush sexy nose; seductive and deep and immediately appealing; fabulous nose with some coffee/mocha at the back; Margaux like, velvet palate with violets and blackcurrants and some mocha. This is excellent and tremendous value. Buy this in spades if you see it about. This is the best Cantemerle I’ve ever had. 94+/100 UGC Oct ’11 [Earlier] Very deep purple and inky up to edge; very attractive nose; deep and seductive; particularly supple but concentrated; very attractive and very easy but with lots of fruit. Ripe and very good. Some coffee and mocha tones at the back. 90-92+/100 Tasted 30th March 2010. Drink now-2030+

2007 Good depth and colour; blackcurrants, freshness, though it feels a bit angular; clean nevertheless; and some spice, tobacco and blackcurrants beneath; quite good, though some hardness to the tannins which needs to resolve but overall clean, fresh and direct. Will come good – and may be worth drinking sooner rather than later whilst the fruit is there. 86+/100 MW Institute Nov ’11 [Earlier] Mid-red; stalky, quite angular; some blackcurrants but a hint of greenness; palate relatively soft and quite attractive; but still some firm rather angular tannins at the back. 84?/100 UGC Oct ‘09 Drink now -2020

Recent Comments

tkoby11

Jeremy I tasted these the week before last in the States and with 3 hours only got to about 60 wines total but was sure to hit all wines, sometime twice, that were of personal and purchase interest for me. We are fairly similar in our assessment with a few swaps between your level 1 and my level 2. Troplong Mondot, Pavie Macquin, and Canon Lagaffeliere were tops for me. Figeac was not showing well, I have loved this wine from literally every vintage I have ever had, its a no score for me to be tried again. Cab sauv in the C. Lagaf gave it a nice extra tannic beam of structure on all the lush fruit, Mondot and Macquin being neighbors and have lots of limestone soils are nice twins. I also think that Macquin 10 blows the doors off their 2009.